The Knight
by 4everstephranger
Summary: What would Ranger do if Stephanie asked him to attend her wedding to Joe? Babe HEA RANGER POV.


The Knight in not so shiny armor

We'd been together again after a particularly tough distraction take down. I hadn't planned it that way. It just happened. The macho man that I am, enjoyed every millisecond of our tryst but my mother's son was ashamed and embarrassed. I knew that the woman beside me, and her on and off boyfriend of several years were close to engagement but I indulged myself in my carnal pleasure all the same. The saddest part of the whole affair was that I knew she had as well. She was still nestled in the crook of my arm when I woke in the morning. With tears in her eyes she asked me to stay. "Just a little while longer?" she pleaded.

"I have to go." I said as I tore myself from her grasp. A 'please' would have killed me and I would have stayed. "This shouldn't have happened, Stephanie. I'm sorry."

"I'm not." She said as she turned her back to me. Her body shook as I walked out the door.

I kept my distance for days, then weeks. When she called just to talk about what had happened or for help with a skip, I couldn't bring myself to speak to her. Call me yellow. I always sent someone to help her in my coward stead. I knew I had to keep my distance but wasn't strong enough to do it in her presence. Hence, I wasn't surprised when my man Cal, who was on desk duty at the time, called my office phone to tell me that she was in the lobby and wanted to see me. I'd heard the rumors that she and Morelli were about to be engaged. He'd apparently bought a ring.

"Send her up." I said then hung up and ran my fingers through my hair. It was time to face the music.

She tapped softly then called my name.

"Ranger? It's Stephanie. Can I come in?"

When I opened the door, her knuckles were prepped to knock again. She smiled meekly.

"Hello Stephanie. Come in."

"Hi." She said as I moved to the side and swept an arm to invite her in, resisting the urge to touch her and place my hand on the small of her back as I would have done with any other woman. I swivelled my chair to accommodate my ass then sat, spun 45 degrees, then folded my hands together onto the blotter on my desk as though in prayer.

"Have a seat." Again I motioned toward the large black leather chair across from my desk.

"I'll stand, if you don't mind."

I tilted my head to the side a little and thought, 'suit yourself' before I asked, "What can I do for you, Stephanie?"

"Well," she began as nervous as cat nestled beside a moving rocking chair. "I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"Whatever you need. You know that. If it's in my power, it's yours."

She paced as she wrung her hands. I was afraid she'd rip them to shreds if she didn't stop.

"Well," she began again. " You see ... it's ... I uh ..." She turned to look at the door. No one was there so my guess was that she had lost her fervor and was about to run.

"Stephanie. Please. Sit. It can't be that bad. Tell me what you need. I'll see what I can do for you."

Reluctantly she sat, stood, then sat again and tugged at the binding on the bag on her lap.

"I uh ... well you see." She wiped her brow with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. From past experience I knew she was garnering her courage and the words would fly from her mouth like vomit. In one breath she said, "Ok. Here goes nothing. Joe and I are engaged and getting married soon and I didn't want you to hear it from someone else so I'm here to tell you myself but that's not the favor I want to ask you of course, what I want is for you to come to the wedding, I know it will be awkward but I can't do it f you aren't there to support me, please say you'll come, please Ranger, please. I can't do this without you." She covered her mouth to stifle the sobs. Tears poured from her eyes as she quieted. "Please?"

I wanted to go to her and comfort her but she was officially another man's woman. Despite the fact that I'd snuck in the back door every time Morelli had left through the front, the small diamond engagement ring she twisted on and off of her finger, was proof that she or at least someone, had made that final decision for her. I'd lost her for good this time.

Contemplating my options, of which there were many, knowing only one answer was acceptable under the circumstances that would make her happy, I said, "Absolutely. If Joe doesn't mind and it's what you want, of course I'll be there." When pigs fly! "Tell me when and where and I'll be there." On the first plane out of Trenton to anywhere else!

Digging through her bag, she removed a small light blue envelope with my name hand written in the center. My invitation. The flap was unsealed.

"The reply card is inside. Um ..." She hesitated slightly. "You can bring a guest if you'd like." Another tear ran down her cheek. "Maybe Tank will go with you?" She peeked through a shock of curls that touched her forehead.

"Maybe." the corner of my lip turned up and she smiled for the first time.

"Well. I gotta go. Dress fittings, you know?" Pulling a package of blue envelopes from her bag, she turned to leave. "I have invitations for the guys. I'd like all of my friends to come. You know, for support."

"Of course. I'm sure they'd want to be there for you. For support."

As hoots and hollers filled the break room, I dialed my handler to see if he could get me a one-way ticket to East Bumfuck or beyond, sooner than later. I didn't want to be anywhere near Trenton the day that Stephanie would be marrying Officer Joseph Anthony Morelli and not me.

The date was set. All he had for me was some training in DC for a few months. It was better than nothing and would serve to keep my mind off of Stephanie and the disaster that was about to befall her. I was scheduled to be on duty twenty-four hours after the said nuptials. I decided to drive instead of fly.

The morning of the wedding, the skies were blue with a gentle sea breeze and the sun was just warm enough that I'd be able to drive most of the way with my car windows open. I had just dumped my duffel bag into the trunk, after programing the military establishment for which I'd been assigned, into my GPS, when my cell phone buzzed. It was Stephanie. I was about to hit ignore then I though better of it. Man up, Manoso. I was just being a jealous prick and not the friend I'd told her I was. She deserved better.

"Yo." I answered with as much 'happy' enthusiasm as I could.

"Yo yourself." She hesitated as I listened to the excited chatter in the background. I made out her mother's voice, Lula's and possibly Mary-Lou's. "You're still coming to the wedding aren't you? You didn't return the card."

It was my turn to hesitate. "Steph, look. I'm really sorry but I have to ..." She didn't let me finish my statement.

"You promised you'd be here. You promised."

"Steph. I've been called away. I have to leave soon. Actually, I'm on my way." I turned the key and let the turbo engine growl.

She must have walked away from the women because it suddenly became very quiet.

"Ranger," she sobbed. "Please. I need you here. Please."

"Stephanie. Stephanie. Where are you?" her mother called to her.

"I have to go." she softened. "If you can't come, I guess I'll have to understand. Call me when you get back. Maybe we can have lunch or something, okay?"

Leave it to her. I was being an absolute asshole and she was being kind and considerate.

"Steph. I'm ..."

"S'okay. Go play soldier. Be safe. Don't get shot." She chuckled weakly then whispered. "Love you," then she was gone.

"Turn right onto Hayward," the GPS said as I exited the underground garage. I turned right and continued to follow the lady's detailed instructions as I headed out of town. The wedding was to be held at ten. It was five minutes of ten when I approached the on-ramp. "Bear right onto I-95 South."

Horns honked and middle fingers rose as I made a u-turn then headed back the way I'd come.

"Adjusting course. Turn right onto Walnut Street." I continued straight. "Adjusting course. Turn right onto Maple Street." I continued straight again and increased my speed then drove through a red light as tires screeched around me. "Adjusting course." Before the annoying lady in the little box could tell me to take a right onto Oak Street, I reprogrammed a new destination. "Keep straight on Main Street for seven miles." I squeezed a lemon through the yellow light as the GPS said, "Turn left onto Moulton Boulevard, then take an immediate right onto Longview Drive." I turned left then right.

I could see the steeple atop the old gray stone church, ahead of me. The bells were ringing. Was I too late?

"Continue straight ahead for two miles. Destination is on the left." Two more miles to go. It may as well have been a hundred or a thousand miles because traffic was stopped dead and not moving. Blue and red lights flashed as a tow truck behind me tried to weave his way forward through the road that was now a parking lot filled with angry drivers. I considered making a run for it when I saw a kid on a Kawasaki. I took the first empty parking spot I could find then ran to the kid and pulled out my wallet.

"Five hundred bucks to use your bike for ten minutes," I said handing out five crisp one hundred dollar bills.

"Sure," he said then handed me his helmet and keys, while letting the bike idle between us. I swung my leg over the seat then jumped the curb and drove down the sidewalk like a mad man headed toward my destination. People ran and cursed while they parted like bowling pins. As I reached the church, I saw one of my men standing outside of the large oak doors, puffing on a cigarette. He'd volunteered to stand watch for me.

Quickly snuffing out the cigarette, he grabbed the handle of one of the doors and pulled it open wide as I bumped up the granite steps and into the church like Dustin Hoffman in _The Graduate_. The priest's right hand was up in the air while he held a bible in the other, about to lower the gauntlet on Stephanie and Joe's fate and pronounce them husband and wife. The rear tire kicked out from under me as I slid on the white fabric runner decorating the center aisle with Christmas candy.

Stephanie was wearing the most hideous dress I'd ever seen. It was cream colored with layers upon layers of taffeta and toile and big puffy sleeves the size of basket balls, that stopped at her elbows,. She reminded me of Princess Diana. The dress was stylish at the time and the former Lady Diana wore it well but it didn't suit Stephanie at all.

With the wheels still spinning, I pushed the bike off of me then stood. Joe looked resigned and turned his back to me while Stephanie turned to look my way then smiled.

"You're here. You made it. My Knight in shining armor."

I took a few slow and steady steps toward her as her mother approached only to be pulled back by her father. He grinned at me then said, "Go get her, Ranger."

Grandma Mazer, Lula, Mary-Lou, my men and most of the people in the pews, including Joe's mother and crazy grandmother, were cheering me on. Stephanie took a glance at Joe as he motioned for her to come to me. Lifting her God awful dress, she ran into my arms. I kissed her the way I'd kissed her a few weeks before when we'd taken it to a higher level. Just as we pulled apart the priest approached us.

"I gather that there won't be a wedding here today." He stood stoically in his whit cassock while holding his bible reverently between his hands.

"Yes there will be a wedding here today, won't there Ranger?"

"Absolutely, Babe. Absolutely." I took her hands in mine. "Do you Stephanie Plum ... " I stopped. "Wait a minute. I can't marrying you in that dress."

Stephanie removed the pill box hat with attached veil then tugged at the sleeves hard enough to tear them off while I removed the knife from my boot and cut the skirt to just above her knees then yanked the petticoat to the floor.

"Better." I said, "Much better."

I began my speech again as the priest cleared his throat.

"I believe that's my job."

We both nodded as phones and cameras clicked and rolled. I hoped to get a few videos to show my own family.

Once our vows, and promises of our eternal love were complete, I righted the bike and Stephanie hopped on the back. As we sped up and headed for the exit door, Stephanie tossed her bouquet backwards over head. Her grandmother's squeals were louder that the roar of the bikes engine.

a/n not mine.


End file.
